“Art is explosion!”

This is a quote from a  famous Japanese artist, Taro Okamoto.

A man who truly devoted his life to art.
A man who believes that art possess huge energy.
A man who kept questioning “Does scientific progress necessarily bring people happiness?”

In Shibuya, the famous city as the center of pop culture, music and fashion, we can find his art piece.

In Shibuya station, you will get to see a huge master piece (5.5m×30m!) called “Myth of tomorrow（明日の神話）”.

It illustrates the moment when the atomic bomb exploded. We can see how horrific it is where the place is indescribable. But when you have a closer look we can see a strong message. No matter how devastating the situation is, people have the courage to keep their heads up high. We have the strong heart to dream about tomorrow. That is why the title is “Myth of tomorrow”.

Last month, a young artistic group “Chim↑Pom” was in the news. They added a new piece to this “Myth of tomorrow”, a smoking nuclear plant that symbolizes Fukushima’s tragedy. News about the nuclear plant has been on the news every single day since the huge earthquake hit Japan on March 11th. As the continuous leakage of radiation is giving a huge impact not only to Japan but also to the world, they thought they had the mission as an artist to add another piece to keep the masterpiece powerful in today’s society. It was soon taken off by the police but left a big message to us.

After around a 20-minute walk from Shibuya, just in front of National Children’s Castle in Aoyama, you will find another art piece called “Tree of Children（こどもの樹）”. National Children’s Castle.

National Children’s Castle is a place where children can enjoy variety of recreational activities. Taro portrayed children as a tree growing towards the sun filled with soul. Also, he shares the message that children should have their own colorful personality, not being forced to be the same as others.

Even though Taro Okamoto passed away in 1996, he still lives in our heart.